Discover what's new or coming soon, including upcoming lessons and resources and product feature updates. 

Announcements

<h1>Introducing Individual Student Assignments</h1>

<p>Great news, teachers!</p>

<p>As of today, you can now select which individual students receive specific assignments within any class.&nbsp;</p>

<h3><strong>Here&#39;s how it works:</strong></h3>

<ul>
	<li>Click on a lesson, video, or flashcard set in your Prepping or Teaching lane within any of your classes</li>
	<li>A modal will open with your assignment preferences for that lesson&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Click the &quot;Students&quot; tab in the top navigation of the modal</li>
	<li>Switch the setting from &quot;All students&quot; to &quot;Some students&quot;</li>
	<li>Select the students you want to assign the lesson to&nbsp;and remember to hit &quot;Save&quot; inside the modal before closing it</li>
</ul>

<p>Only the selected students will see the assignment inside their class dashboard.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C5BgjG7wtaI?si=I4waw7z14JkLaeer" width="640"></iframe></div>

<p>We know that a lot of you have been asking for this feature for a while now. So thanks for your patience, and we hope it&#39;s a big help!</p>

<p>All the best,<br />
Ben :)</p>

<p>Founder, CEO at Ellii</p>


Introducing Individual Student Assignments

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Stay up-to-date with ELT trends and ideas with articles from experts and teachers in the field.

Articles

<h2>So many quantifiers...so much confusion!</h2>

<p>In English, we have many words to express quantity, including <em>many, much, few, less, a lot, lots, a little,</em> etc. Today we&rsquo;ll look at some of the ways to express amounts by using the quantifiers <strong>many</strong> and <strong>much</strong>. You can remind your students of a few basic rules for using these quantifiers. You can also review using <strong>many</strong> and <strong>much</strong> in positive statements, negative statements, and questions. And since there are always exceptions to every rule of English, I&#39;ve listed some exceptions for <strong>many</strong> and <strong>much</strong> that you can pass on to your students.</p>

<h2>Many</h2>

<h3>Rule</h3>

<p><strong>Many</strong> is used with <strong>plural count nouns</strong>. These words almost always end in &ldquo;s,&rdquo; so they are easy for students to spot.</p>

<h3>Positive Statements</h3>

<p>With positive statements, the meaning of <strong>many</strong> is &ldquo;a lot, a large&nbsp;number.&rdquo;</p>

<ul>
	<li dir="ltr">She has <strong>many</strong> friend<strong>s</strong>.</li>
	<li dir="ltr">There are <strong>many</strong> problem<strong>s</strong> to solve before we can go home.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Negative Statements</h3>

<p>With negative statements, the meaning of<strong> not many</strong> is &ldquo;a few, a small number.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li dir="ltr">He doesn&rsquo;t have <strong>many</strong> course<strong>s</strong> this semester.</li>
	<li dir="ltr">There aren&rsquo;t <strong>many</strong> way<strong>s</strong> to use this software.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Questions</h3>

<p>With questions, <strong>many</strong> is used to ask about the number&nbsp;when the number&nbsp;is unknown.</p>

<ul>
	<li dir="ltr">How <strong>many</strong> car<strong>s</strong> do they own?</li>
	<li dir="ltr">Are there <strong>many</strong> way<strong>s</strong> to say &ldquo;thank you&rdquo; in your language?</li>
</ul>

<h3>Exceptions</h3>

<p>Point out that there are a few well-known exceptions where a plural count noun doesn&rsquo;t end in &ldquo;s.&rdquo;</p>

<ul>
	<li dir="ltr">We have <strong>many</strong> children.</li>
	<li dir="ltr">There weren&rsquo;t <strong>many</strong> people at the ceremony.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Much</h2>

<h3>Rule</h3>

<p><strong>Much</strong> is used with <strong>non-count</strong> <strong>nouns</strong>. These words almost never end in &ldquo;s,&rdquo; so they are easy for students to catch.</p>

<h3>Positive Statements</h3>

<p><strong>Much</strong> is very formal and awkward in positive statements. I tell my students to generally avoid using <strong>much</strong> in positive statements. Instead, students can use &ldquo;a lot of&rdquo; or &ldquo;lots of.&rdquo;</p>

<ul>
	<li dir="ltr"><strong>Avoid:</strong> I have much time to help you.</li>
	<li dir="ltr"><strong>Use:</strong> I have <strong>a lot of</strong> time to help you. / I have<strong> lots of</strong> time to help you.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Negative Statements</h3>

<p>With negative statements, the meaning of <strong>not&nbsp;</strong><strong>much</strong> is &ldquo;a little, a small amount.&rdquo;</p>

<ul>
	<li>She doesn&rsquo;t have <strong>much</strong> patience for people who are always late.</li>
	<li dir="ltr">It didn&rsquo;t take that <strong>much</strong> paper to print out my essay.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Questions</h3>

<p>With questions, <strong>much</strong> is used to ask about the amount when the amount is unknown.</p>

<ul>
	<li dir="ltr">How <strong>much</strong> does this sweater cost? (Point out that we usually drop the noun &ldquo;money&rdquo; because it&rsquo;s obvious.)</li>
	<li dir="ltr">How <strong>much</strong> homework do you have?</li>
</ul>

<h3>Exceptions</h3>

<p>Point out that there are a few well-known exceptions where a non-count noun ends in &ldquo;s.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li dir="ltr">We didn&rsquo;t have <strong>much</strong> new<strong>s</strong>.</li>
</ul>

<p>Also point out that we can use <strong>much</strong> in positive sentences with the words &ldquo;so&rdquo; and &ldquo;too&rdquo; (see <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/so-such-too/" target="_blank">So, Such &amp; Too</a> for more information and examples).</p>

<ul>
	<li dir="ltr">I love you <strong>so much</strong>.</li>
	<li dir="ltr">I had<strong> so much</strong> fun at the party last night.</li>
	<li dir="ltr">The new software caused us<strong> too much</strong> trouble, so we switched back to our old program.</li>
</ul>

<p>With the holidays coming up, I hope you get <strong>many</strong> days off! Don&rsquo;t spend too <strong>much</strong> on presents!</p>

<p>Tanya</p>

Teaching Tips: Many & Much

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Learn tips on how to teach grammar and usage from our editors and grammar experts. 

Grammar & Usage

<blockquote>
<p>Intonation as well as structure plays an important role in Tag&nbsp;Questions.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Do your students realize there&rsquo;s more to Tag Questions than just knowing how to form them correctly? There is a slight difference in meaning when we use rising vs. falling intonation. A lot of textbooks don&rsquo;t cover this point, but I think it&rsquo;s important to teach our students how native speakers actually speak English, especially in informal situations that often call for Tag Questions. After discussing the purpose and intonation, there is also a mini-lesson that you can use to teach your students the structure of Tag&nbsp;Questions.</p>

<h1>Purpose</h1>

<p>Tag Questions are used when we are pretty certain that someone will agree with us. We use these questions for <strong>confirmation</strong> or&nbsp;<strong>emphasis</strong>.</p>

<p>For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>That was a great movie, <strong>wasn&rsquo;t it?</strong> (I really liked the movie. I can&rsquo;t read my friend&rsquo;s mind, but I&rsquo;m pretty sure my friend will agree with&nbsp;me.)</li>
	<li>The test will be difficult, <strong>won&rsquo;t it?</strong> (My friend and I are in a tough class, and all the tests so far have been difficult. I&rsquo;m quite sure my friend will agree with&nbsp;me.)</li>
</ul>

<h1>Intonation</h1>

<h2>1. Rising Intonation</h2>

<p><strong>voice goes up at the end of the&nbsp;question</strong></p>

<p>This is the more familiar of the two Tag Question intonation styles, at least in Western Canada. We use it to indicate that we&rsquo;re <strong>pretty sure</strong> that someone will agree with us. I like to tell my students that I&rsquo;m about <strong>90% sure</strong> in this&nbsp;case.</p>

<p>For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>That was a great movie, <strong>wasn&rsquo;t it?</strong> (= voice goes up) In this example, I really liked the movie, and I&rsquo;m 90% sure my friend will agree with me. Maybe my friend usually prefers action movies, but even though this was a romantic comedy, it was a great story so my friend probably liked&nbsp;it.</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Falling Intonation</h2>

<p><strong>voice goes down at the end of the&nbsp;question</strong></p>

<p>We use it to indicate that we&rsquo;re <strong>very sure</strong> that someone will agree with us. I like to tell my students that I&rsquo;m about <strong>95% sure</strong> in this&nbsp;case.</p>

<p>For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>That was a great movie, <strong>wasn&rsquo;t it?</strong> (= voice goes down) In this example, the movie was an action movie, which is my friend&rsquo;s favorite type of movie. I loved the movie because it had a great plotline and lots of action, and I&rsquo;m very sure my friend liked&nbsp;it.</li>
</ul>

<p>Make sure you have your students repeat the questions after you to practise their intonation. When you practise Tag Questions in class (such as from the Structure lesson below), have them try both types of&nbsp;intonation.</p>

<h1>Structure</h1>

<p>Here&rsquo;s how I usually present the formation of Tag Questions to my&nbsp;students:</p>

<h2>1. Positive Vs. Negative Verbs</h2>

<p>Tell your students that the Tag is always the <strong>opposite</strong> of the Main Verb. If the Main Verb is positive, the Tag will be negative. If the Main Verb is negative, the Tag will be&nbsp;positive.</p>

<ul>
	<li>He is funny, isn&rsquo;t he?</li>
	<li>She didn&rsquo;t finish her homework, did&nbsp;she?</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Verbs without Auxiliaries</h2>

<p>Simple present verbs and simple past verbs form their Tags with <em>do</em> or <em>did</em> (in the same way that they use <em>do</em>, <em>don&rsquo;t</em>, <em>did</em>, or <em>didn&rsquo;t</em> for questions or negative&nbsp;sentences).</p>

<ul>
	<li>They speak English fluently, don&rsquo;t&nbsp;they?</li>
	<li>They don&rsquo;t speak French fluently, do&nbsp;they?</li>
	<li>We ran for hours in gym class, didn&rsquo;t&nbsp;we?</li>
	<li>We didn&rsquo;t run for very long in gym class, did&nbsp;we?</li>
</ul>

<p>*An exception is the verb <em>To Be</em>. This verb takes the opposite positive or negative form of the Main Verb, and the form depends on the&nbsp;subject.</p>

<ul>
	<li>She is tired, isn&rsquo;t she?</li>
	<li>You&rsquo;re not finished, are you?</li>
	<li>He was on time, wasn&rsquo;t he?</li>
	<li>They weren&rsquo;t happy about the rain, were they?</li>
</ul>

<h2>3. Verbs with Auxiliaries</h2>

<p>It&rsquo;s easy to form Tag Questions when the Main Verb has an Auxiliary Verb (or &ldquo;helping verb&rdquo;). Just use the opposite positive or negative form of the Auxiliary&nbsp;Verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>We won&rsquo;t have time to finish, will&nbsp;we?</li>
	<li>He will call me tonight, won&rsquo;t&nbsp;he?</li>
	<li>You haven&rsquo;t seen this movie, have&nbsp;you?</li>
	<li>She has been studying English for five years, hasn&rsquo;t&nbsp;she?</li>
</ul>

<h2>4. Verbs with Modals</h2>

<p>It&rsquo;s also easy to form Tag Questions when the Main Verb has a Modal in front of it. Just use the opposite positive or negative form of the&nbsp;Modal.</p>

<ul>
	<li>You can swim, can&rsquo;t&nbsp;you?</li>
	<li>She couldn&rsquo;t go to the party, could&nbsp;she?</li>
	<li>He should study, shouldn&rsquo;t&nbsp;he?</li>
	<li>They shouldn&rsquo;t drive after drinking, should&nbsp;they?</li>
</ul>

<p>Be careful! <em>Might</em> and <em>may</em> are not used in Tag Questions, and <em>must</em> is also awkward. Tell your students to avoid using these Modals in Tag&nbsp;Questions.</p>

<p>For Modal expressions like <em>have to</em> or <em>be able to</em>, the normal rules of simple present verbs and the <em>Be</em> verb&nbsp;apply.</p>

<ul>
	<li>You have to study tonight, don&rsquo;t&nbsp;you?</li>
	<li>You don&rsquo;t have to study tonight, do&nbsp;you?</li>
	<li>She is able to sing, isn&rsquo;t&nbsp;she?</li>
	<li>She isn&rsquo;t able to sing, is&nbsp;she?</li>
</ul>

<h2>5. Other Types of Tags</h2>

<p>Remind your students that it&rsquo;s also common to use words or phrases in place of Tag Questions, but the meaning is the same (used for <strong>confirmation </strong>or <strong>emphasis</strong>). Some common expressions are <em>right</em>, <em>don&rsquo;t you think</em>, and the famous Canadian <em>eh</em>. Note that intonation is usually always <strong>rising</strong> in these&nbsp;cases.</p>

<ul>
	<li>That was a great movie,&nbsp;right?</li>
	<li>That was a great movie, don&rsquo;t you&nbsp;think?</li>
	<li>That was a great movie,&nbsp;eh?</li>
</ul>

<p>For more practice on Tag Questions, try <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/79/lessons/1805">Episode 2 from our Detective Series 1 section</a>.</p>

<p>What about in your city or country? Are there slight differences in meaning related to differences in intonation, like in Western Canada? I&rsquo;d love to hear what happens in other parts of the world. Feel free to leave a comment below and share with&nbsp;us!</p>

<p>The Tag Questions lesson is finished! That wasn&rsquo;t so hard, was&nbsp;it?</p>

<p>Tanya</p>


Tag Questions Are Fun to Teach, Aren't They?

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<h1>I Advise You to Take My Advice...</h1>

<p>Vocabulary is one of the most difficult parts of learning a new language. There are just so many words to remember! It really doesn&rsquo;t help when two words sound the same or look the same, like <strong>advice</strong> and <strong>advise</strong>. Talk about confusing!</p>

<p>In my experience, students struggle with certain challenging word pairs whether they&rsquo;re beginners or advanced. Not surprisingly, these word pairs often end up on exams like the TOEIC. I&rsquo;ve compiled a list below of the words that I think are among the most difficult for students to keep straight.</p>

<p>Teach your students these words in depth using the info below, or just review them from time to time: either way, your students will be ahead of the game if they can master these word pairs!</p>

<h2>1. advice / advise</h2>

<p>There are differences in grammar and pronunciation for these two words.</p>

<h3>A. Advice</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Meaning: a suggestion or recommendation meant to help someone</li>
	<li>Grammar: <strong>noun</strong></li>
	<li>Pronunciation: the second syllable has an soft /s/ sound</li>
	<li>Example: She gave me some good <strong>advice</strong> when she told me to study hard.</li>
</ul>

<h3>B. Advise</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Meaning: to suggest something to someone in order to help them</li>
	<li>Grammar: <strong>verb</strong></li>
	<li>Pronunciation: the second syllable has a hard /z/ sound</li>
	<li>Example: The teacher <strong>advised</strong> the students to study hard for the final exam.</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. effect / affect</h2>

<p>There are differences in grammar for these two words. When speaking quickly and naturally, these words sound the same, so the position in the sentence (subject, verb, object) is important.</p>

<h3>A. Effect</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Meaning: the result or influence of something</li>
	<li>Grammar: <strong>noun</strong></li>
	<li>Pronunciation: when speaking slowly, the first syllable has an /i/ sound (as in t<strong>ee</strong>th), but when speaking quickly and naturally, the first syllable has a schwa sound (as in th<strong>e</strong>) because it is unstressed</li>
	<li>Example: Turning up the volume had no <strong>effect</strong> on the sleepy students.</li>
</ul>

<h3>B. Affect</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Meaning: to influence or produce an effect on</li>
	<li>Grammar: <strong>verb</strong></li>
	<li>Pronunciation:&nbsp;when speaking slowly, the first syllable has an /ae/ sound (as in c<strong>a</strong>t), but when speaking quickly and naturally, the first syllable has a schwa sound (as in th<strong>e</strong>) because it is unstressed</li>
	<li>Example: This medicine might <strong>affect</strong> your driving because it causes drowsiness.</li>
</ul>

<p>For practice with&nbsp;<strong>effect</strong> and <strong>affect</strong>, try the Vocabulary Review (on page 3) in our Famous People lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/1396" title="Chris Hadfield - effect, affect">Chris Hadfield</a>.</p>

<h2>3. accept / except</h2>

<p>There are differences in grammar and meaning for these two words, but they sound very similar.</p>

<h3>A. Accept</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Meaning: to receive something willingly or approve of something or someone</li>
	<li>Grammar: <strong>verb</strong></li>
	<li>Pronunciation: the first syllable has an /ae/ sound (as in c<strong>a</strong>t), but when speaking very quickly, the schwa sound (as in th<strong>e</strong>) is produced because the vowel is unstressed</li>
	<li>Example: He <strong>accepted</strong> the invitation and was looking forward to the party.</li>
</ul>

<h3>B. Except</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Meaning: with the exclusion of something or someone</li>
	<li>Grammar: <strong>preposition</strong></li>
	<li>Pronunciation:&nbsp;when speaking slowly, the first syllable has an /E/ sound (as in g<strong>e</strong>t), but when speaking quickly and naturally, the first syllable has a schwa sound (as in th<strong>e</strong>) because it is unstressed</li>
	<li>Example: I finished all my homework <strong>except</strong> for my difficult math assignment.</li>
</ul>

<h2>4. especially / specially</h2>

<p>There are differences in pronunciation for these two words. The grammar is the same and the meanings are similar, so make sure to point out to your students that &ldquo;specially&rdquo; is not common, and they will almost always use &ldquo;especially.&rdquo;</p>

<h3>A. Especially</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Meaning: in particular, to emphasize something</li>
	<li>Grammar: <strong>adverb</strong></li>
	<li>Pronunciation: there are four syllables, and the first syllable has a schwa sound (as in th<strong>e</strong>)</li>
	<li>Example: I hate all vegetables, <strong>especially</strong> broccoli.</li>
</ul>

<h3>B. Specially</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Meaning: in a special way</li>
	<li>Grammar: <strong>adverb</strong></li>
	<li>Pronunciation: there are only three syllables, and this word does not begin with a schwa sound</li>
	<li>Example: She is popular because she treats her friends <strong>specially</strong>.</li>
</ul>

<h2>5. immigrate / emigrate</h2>

<p>There are differences in pronunciation for these two words. The grammar is the same and the meanings are similar, so make sure to point out to your students that &ldquo;emigrate&rdquo; is not common, and they will almost always use &ldquo;immigrate.&rdquo;</p>

<h3>A. Immigrate</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Meaning: to move <strong>to</strong> another country</li>
	<li>Grammar: <strong>verb</strong></li>
	<li>Pronunciation: the first syllable has a /I/ (uppercase i, not lowercase L) sound (as in h<strong>i</strong>t)</li>
	<li>Example: He <strong>immigrated</strong> to Canada last year when his dad got transferred.</li>
</ul>

<h3>B. Emigrate</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Meaning: to move <strong>from</strong> another country</li>
	<li>Grammar: <strong>verb</strong></li>
	<li>Pronunciation: the first syllable has a /E/ sound (as in g<strong>e</strong>t)</li>
	<li>Example: They <strong>emigrated</strong> from Brazil in 2010, and they miss the warm weather.</li>
</ul>

<h2>6. custom / customs</h2>

<p>There are important differences in meaning for these two words. Make sure you point out that meaning A becomes &ldquo;customs&rdquo; in the plural, and takes a plural verb, but meaning B is always singular, and takes a singular verb.</p>

<h3>A. Custom</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Meaning: tradition</li>
	<li>Grammar: <strong>noun</strong></li>
	<li>Pronunciation: no /s/ sound at the end of the word in the singular, but /s/ sound at the end of the word in the plural</li>
	<li>Example: Taking your shoes off when you enter someone&rsquo;s house is a <strong>custom</strong> in my country. (Another example: Certain&nbsp;<strong>customs</strong> <strong>were</strong> followed. Note the plural verb.)</li>
</ul>

<h3>B. Customs</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Meaning: when entering another country, the place where you show your passport and declare your goods</li>
	<li>Grammar: <strong>noun</strong></li>
	<li>Pronunciation: /s/ sound is always at the end of the word</li>
	<li>Example: I always get nervous when I go through <strong>customs</strong> at the airport. (Another example: <strong>Customs</strong> <strong>was</strong> intimidating. Note the singular verb.)</li>
</ul>

<hr />
<p>I hope this clears up the confusion for your students! Tanya</p>

6 Commonly Confused Word Pairs

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<blockquote>
<p>You may want to lie down to read&nbsp;this&hellip;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>All languages have their confusing words&hellip;words that sound the same, look the same, or have the same meaning. Especially confusing are words that have similar forms (for example, in different verb tenses) but are not used in exactly the same way (the present and past tense of &ldquo;read,&rdquo; with two different pronunciations, comes to mind). In my opinion, the irregular verbs &ldquo;<strong>lay</strong>&rdquo; and &ldquo;<strong>lie</strong>&rdquo; rank at the top of the list in terms of confusing forms and&nbsp;usage.</p>

<p>These words are a particular pet peeve of mine&hellip;because I can <em>never</em> keep them straight! I have probably looked these two words up more often while teaching and editing than any other words in the English language. I hope that by writing out the rules here that we will sort them out, together, once and for&nbsp;all!</p>

<h1>Usage</h1>

<p><strong>The quick trick is to notice if there is a <em>direct object</em> in the sentence.</strong> If there is, then use the appropriate form of <strong>lay</strong>: <em>to place in a horizontal&nbsp;position</em>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>She <strong>laid</strong> <em>her baby</em> in the crib at night.</li>
</ul>

<p>If there isn&rsquo;t a direct object then use the appropriate form of <strong>lie:</strong> <em>to recline or assume a horizontal&nbsp;position</em>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I&rsquo;m <strong>lying</strong> down because I have a&nbsp;headache.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Common Error</h1>

<p>If you find that you can&rsquo;t keep these words straight when conjugating them, you&rsquo;re not alone! The thing that is most confusing about these two verbs is that the present tense of <strong>lay</strong> is the past tense of&nbsp;<strong>lie</strong>!</p>

<p>We can hardly blame Lance Armstrong for mixing these two up in his recent tweet: &ldquo;<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/11/sport/lance-armstrong-twitter-tour-cycling/index.html?hpt=hp_t1" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Back in Austin and just layin&rsquo; around&hellip;</a>&rdquo; which caused a stir among language lovers. He wrote &ldquo;<strong>laying</strong>&rdquo; when he should have written &ldquo;<strong>lying</strong>&rdquo; (<strong>no direct object)</strong>. This caused some controversy, not only because of the grammar, but also because he tweeted a photo of himself surrounded by his Tour de France jerseys even though his victories have been annulled. (Just imagine the responses if he had used the correct word (&ldquo;lying&rdquo;) in that tweet. Check out ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s NEW Discussion Starters lesson on&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1261">Steroids</a>.)</p>

<p>Now let&rsquo;s look at these verbs in more detail by examining their different meanings and&nbsp;forms.</p>

<h1>Meanings</h1>

<p>I won&rsquo;t bore you with the more than fourteen meanings of &ldquo;<strong>lay</strong>&rdquo; and the more than eight meanings of &ldquo;<strong>lie</strong>&rdquo; (according to <em>Merriam‑Webster&rsquo;s Collegiate Dictionary</em>). Let&rsquo;s just stick to the meanings which are similar, and thus the source of all the&nbsp;confusion.</p>

<h2>Lay</h2>

<p>a) to put or set&nbsp;down</p>

<ul>
	<li>He <strong>laid</strong><em> his books </em>on his desk after&nbsp;school.</li>
</ul>

<p>b) to place for rest or&nbsp;sleep</p>

<ul>
	<li>She <strong>laid</strong><em> her baby</em> in the&nbsp;crib.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Lie</h2>

<p>a) to be or to stay at rest in a horizontal&nbsp;position</p>

<ul>
	<li>I <strong>was lying</strong> in bed for hours last night before I finally fell&nbsp;asleep.</li>
</ul>

<p>b) to assume a horizontal position, often used with&nbsp;<em>down</em></p>

<ul>
	<li>He <strong>will</strong> <strong>lie</strong> down for a quick&nbsp;nap.</li>
</ul>

<p>Bill Bryson, in <em>Bryson&rsquo;s Dictionary for Writers and Editors</em>, notes that it&rsquo;s a common mistake for people to say, &ldquo;Go upstairs and <strong>lay</strong> down.&rdquo; It should be &ldquo;<strong>lie</strong> down&rdquo; because there is <strong>no direct object</strong>. <em>The</em> <em>Chicago Manual of Style</em> mentions that the children&rsquo;s prayer &ldquo;Now I <strong>lay</strong> <em>me</em> down to sleep&rdquo; is a good mnemonic device because it shows the use of a <strong>direct object</strong> after&nbsp;&ldquo;<strong>lay</strong>.&rdquo;</p>

<h1>Verb Forms</h1>

<h4>LAY &ndash; LAID &ndash; LAID vs. LIE &ndash; LAY &ndash; LAIN</h4>

<p>We can see that the form &ldquo;<strong>lay</strong>&rdquo; is used both as the <strong>present of <em>lay</em></strong> and the <strong>past of <em>lie</em></strong>. Memorization and repetition will definitely help you keep them straight. Also, the <em>Copyeditor&rsquo;s Handbook</em> has a great sentence for keeping the past tense forms in mind, which you might want to pass along to your students: &ldquo;He <strong>laid</strong> the book on the table before he <strong>lay</strong>&nbsp;down.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Now, let&rsquo;s examine these verb forms in more&nbsp;detail:</p>

<h2>LAY &ndash; LAID &ndash; LAID</h2>

<p>a) Present: <strong>Lay</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>He <strong>lays</strong> <em>his keys </em>in the container by the door when he gets home every&nbsp;day.</li>
</ul>

<p>b) Present Participle: <strong>Laying</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>She can&rsquo;t come to the phone right now because she <strong>is laying</strong> <em>her baby</em> in the&nbsp;crib.</li>
</ul>

<p>c) Past: <strong>Laid</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>I <strong>laid</strong> <em>my passport</em> on the counter at the&nbsp;airport.</li>
</ul>

<p>d) Past Participle: <strong>Laid</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>The vet <strong>has laid</strong> <em>the dog</em> on the examination&nbsp;table.</li>
</ul>

<h2>LIE &ndash; LAY &ndash; LAIN</h2>

<p>a) Present: <strong>Lie</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>He <strong>lies</strong> down for an hour every day after&nbsp;work.</li>
</ul>

<p>b) Present Participle: <strong>Lying</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>She <strong>is lying</strong> back in her favorite&nbsp;chair.</li>
</ul>

<p>c) Past: <strong>Lay</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>After watching two movies, the kids finally <strong>lay</strong> down to go to sleep last&nbsp;night.</li>
</ul>

<p>d) Past Participle: <strong>Lain</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>You <strong>have lain</strong> in bed for hours! Get&nbsp;up!</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note</h5>

<p><strong>Lie &ndash; To Make An Untrue Statement</strong></p>

<p>Another common use of the verb &ldquo;<strong>lie</strong>&rdquo; is as an intransitive verb with the meaning &ldquo;to make an untrue statement.&rdquo; This &ldquo;<strong>lie</strong>&rdquo; also does <strong>not take a direct object,</strong> and the verb forms are <strong>lie &ndash; lied &ndash; lied</strong> because it is a regular verb. (E.g., She <strong>lied</strong> about staying home last night. Her friend told me she was at a party.) Because of the different forms and meaning, I hope this won&rsquo;t confuse your students too much. It&rsquo;s up to you whether you want to mention it within a &ldquo;<strong>lay/lie</strong>&rdquo; lesson, or save it for another day. Interestingly, Lance Armstrong&rsquo;s grammatically incorrect tweet may be a useful way to remember all of these&nbsp;rules!</p>
</div>

<p>Do you need to <strong>lie</strong> down after all that&nbsp;info?&nbsp;;)</p>

<p>Tanya</p>

<h1>Sources</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Bryson, Bill. <em>Bryson&rsquo;s Dictionary for Writers and Editors</em>, 2008, p.&nbsp;200&ndash;201.</li>
	<li><em>The Chicago Manual of Style</em>, 16th edition, 2010, p.&nbsp;287. Einsohn,&nbsp;Amy.</li>
	<li><em>The Copyeditor&rsquo;s Handbook</em>, 2011, p.&nbsp;347.</li>
	<li><em>Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Collegiate Dictionary</em>, 11th edition,&nbsp;2008.</li>
</ul>


Lay Vs. Lie: Let's Lay This Matter to Rest!

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<blockquote>&quot;Study the past if you would define the future.&quot; ~ Confucius</blockquote>

<p>Teaching students about historical events can get them excited about learning. The trick is to bring history to life and make it more tangible than a textbook offers. Students need to experience history, not just read about it. One way students can get a perspective about a historical event is to create a timeline. Timelines act as graphic organizers that help learners categorize, sequence, and analyze the events and people that create that particular history. Timelines also help learners to chunk difficult language and summarize in their own words how they understand the history they read about.</p>

<h2>Timeline Tools</h2>

<p>Below are various free multimedia online tools that your students can use to create timelines of any historical event.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.tiki-toki.com/">Tiki-Toki</a>&nbsp;- Create multimedia timelines on the web with text, images (Flickr supported), and video (choose from YouTube or Vimeo).</p>

<p><a href="http://www.timetoast.com/">Timetoast</a>- This is embeddable in a blog or wiki and allows students to add text and images. This tool is very simple to use and allows for longer descriptions when clicked.</p>

<p><a href="http://timerime.com/">TimeRime</a>&nbsp;- Another embeddable timeline that supports events with text, images, music, and more. Has zooming features and other cool features for educators.</p>

<p><a href="http://timeglider.com/?tab=free">Timeglider</a>&nbsp;- Create multimedia timelines with text, links, and images to accompany dates and events. It has zooming features, allows embedding, and the ability to create legends.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.thinglink.com/">Thinglink</a>&nbsp;- This is more a multimedia poster but students can add an image of a historical event then create dates that are linked to multimedia resources.</p>

<h2>A Few Activities and Ideas</h2>

<p>Creating a multimedia timeline is just part of the process of bringing that historical event to life, but students can experience more while researching and collecting resources to include in their timeline. Below are a few tips and ideas to ensure your learners get the most out of the process.</p>

<h3>Interviews</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Students can interview someone who is tied to the event. They can interview someone from a museum or a relative or conduct a Skype interview with a person located somewhere else.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Primary Resources</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Students can include video or audio excerpts of people who experienced the event. Find primary resources on sites like <a href="http://www.history.com/">History.com</a>, the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/index.html">Library of Congress</a>, <a href="http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/">Scholastic</a>, and <a href="http://storycorps.org/">StoryCorps audio interviews</a>.</li>
	<li>Students can add primary writing excerpts and quotes to their timeline such as images or PDFs of handwritten letters, poetry, newspaper articles and diary entries. In this post, Richard Byrne lists <a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/10/9-sources-for-historical-images.html#.UJtmneOe_pQ">9 websites to find all types of primary resources</a>.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Digital Reenactments of Events</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Students can create a digital comic of the event using&nbsp;<a href="http://www.creaza.com/">Creaza</a>.</li>
	<li>Students can create a talking avatar with <a href="http://www.voki.com/">Voki</a>. It has a library of historical figures to choose from. Students can use their voices to make the avatar speak or type in the text.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Geography of the Events</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Students can include links to virtual tours of the event. Find a good list of historical virtual tours in this article, <a href="http://thwt.org/index.php/presentations-multimedia/virtual-tours">Teaching History with Technology: Virtual Tours</a>.</li>
	<li>Students can include links to maps or images of what the area looked like when the event took place. Find <a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/">historical maps here</a>, <a href="http://www.timemaps.com/">interactive maps with timelines here</a>, and <a href="http://www.the-map-as-history.com/">animated historical maps here</a>.</li>
</ul>

<p>What other ideas do you have?</p>


Timeline Tools, Resources, and Activities

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<h1>So many ways to say the same thing&hellip;so confusing for students!</h1>

<p>English, like all other languages, has many different ways to express one thing. For example, we can say &ldquo;too,&rdquo; &ldquo;as well,&rdquo; and &ldquo;also,&rdquo; and the meaning is virtually indistinguishable.</p>

<p>The same is true for these commonly confused words: <em><strong>despite, in spite of, despite the fact that, in spite of the fact that, although, though,</strong></em> and <em><strong>even though</strong></em>. These expressions are all used for the same case: to describe a situation where something is <strong>unexpected</strong>.</p>

<p>So how do we explain the different sentence structures and punctuation for these expressions? Over the years, I&rsquo;ve developed an easy, clear way to present and teach these expressions to my students. I hope it works for you,&nbsp;too!</p>

<h1>1. Unexpected situations</h1>

<p>First, explain to your students that we use all of these terms to describe a situation that is <strong>unexpected</strong>. For example, if it is raining, we expect that most people would use an umbrella. If someone chooses <strong>not</strong> to use an umbrella, this would be an <strong>unexpected</strong> case. Write this sentence on the&nbsp;board:</p>

<ul>
	<li>It is raining. I didn&rsquo;t use my&nbsp;umbrella.</li>
</ul>

<h1>2. Despite / In spite of +&nbsp;N</h1>

<p>Next, explain to your students that <em>despite</em> and <em>in spite of </em>must be followed by a <strong>noun</strong> or <strong>gerund</strong>. You can also point out that <em>despite</em> and<em> in spite of</em> have the same meaning, but <em>despite</em> is more commonly used than <em>in spite of</em>. The latter is a little more&nbsp;formal.</p>

<h2>a) Despite / In spite of + N, +&nbsp;SVO.</h2>

<p>Write sentence pattern (a) and the following examples on the board, pointing out that we use a <strong>comma</strong> when we start the sentence with <em>despite</em> or <em>in spite of</em> (the adverb&nbsp;phrase).</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>Despite the rain, I didn&rsquo;t use my&nbsp;umbrella.</li>
	<li>In spite of the rain, I didn&rsquo;t use my&nbsp;umbrella.</li>
</ul>

<h2>b) SVO + despite / in spite of +&nbsp;N.</h2>

<p>Write sentence pattern (b) and the following examples on the board. Make sure to tell your students that we can also start the sentence with the main clause, with no changes in meaning. In this case, we <strong>don&rsquo;t</strong> need a&nbsp;comma.</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>I didn&rsquo;t use my umbrella despite the&nbsp;rain.</li>
	<li>I didn&rsquo;t use my umbrella in spite of the&nbsp;rain.</li>
</ul>

<p>For examples using gerunds, write the&nbsp;following:</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>Despite studying all night, she didn&rsquo;t pass her&nbsp;exam.</li>
	<li>She didn&rsquo;t pass her exam despite studying all&nbsp;night.</li>
	<li>In spite of studying all night, she didn&rsquo;t pass her&nbsp;exam.</li>
	<li>She didn&rsquo;t pass her exam in spite of studying all&nbsp;night.</li>
</ul>

<h1>3. Despite the fact that / In spite of the fact that +&nbsp;SVO</h1>

<p>Explain to your students that we have a way, in English, to use <em>despite</em> and <em>in spite of</em> with a <strong>Subject-Verb-Object</strong> clause. We can add the phrase <em>the fact that</em>. Make sure you point out to your students that this way is not commonly used as it is very formal. They should be aware of it, but they probably won&rsquo;t use it much. (Note that when I say &quot;SVO,&quot;&nbsp;I&#39;m simply referring to a main clause...some verbs do not take a direct object, as with &quot;it was raining.&quot;)&nbsp;You can write sentence patterns (c) and (d), and the examples, on the&nbsp;board:</p>

<h2>c) Despite the fact that / In spite of the fact that + SVO, +&nbsp;SVO.</h2>

<p>Ensure your students notice the use of a <strong>comma</strong> when we start the sentence with the adverb&nbsp;clause.</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>Despite the fact that it was raining, I didn&rsquo;t use my&nbsp;umbrella.</li>
	<li>In spite of the fact that it was raining, I didn&rsquo;t use my&nbsp;umbrella.</li>
</ul>

<h2>d) SVO + despite the fact that / in spite of the fact that +&nbsp;SVO.</h2>

<p>Point out that there is <strong>no</strong> comma used when we start the sentence with the main&nbsp;clause.</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>I didn&rsquo;t use my umbrella despite the fact that it was&nbsp;raining.</li>
	<li>I didn&rsquo;t use my umbrella in spite of the fact that it was&nbsp;raining.</li>
</ul>

<h1>4. Although / Though / Even though +&nbsp;SVO</h1>

<p>Tell your students that all three of these expressions are common, and they essentially have the same meaning. One could argue that there is slightly more emphasis on the unexpected with <em>even though</em>, but I don&rsquo;t see it as an important distinction, and students already have enough to remember as it is. The choice of which expression to use is theirs, but I often tell students that I tend to use <em>although</em> more than the other two, and I&rsquo;ve noticed that it appears on the TOEIC test more often as well. Here are some examples to write on the board, along with patterns (e)&nbsp;and&nbsp;(f):</p>

<h2>e) Although / Though / Even though + SVO, + SVO.</h2>

<p>Reiterate that we need a <strong>comma</strong> when we start the sentence with an adverb&nbsp;clause.</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>Although it was raining, I didn&rsquo;t use my&nbsp;umbrella.</li>
	<li>Though it was raining, I didn&rsquo;t use my&nbsp;umbrella.</li>
	<li>Even though it was raining, I didn&rsquo;t use my&nbsp;umbrella.</li>
</ul>

<h2>f) SVO + although / though / even though +&nbsp;SVO.</h2>

<p>Again, make sure your students notice the <strong>lack</strong> of comma when starting the sentence with the mainvclause.</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>I didn&rsquo;t use my umbrella although it was&nbsp;raining.</li>
	<li>I didn&rsquo;t use my umbrella though it was&nbsp;raining.</li>
	<li>I didn&rsquo;t use my umbrella even though it was&nbsp;raining.</li>
</ul>

<p>Although these structures can be tricky, I hope your students will master them in no time once they see all of these&nbsp;examples! Tanya</p>

<h1>PS.</h1>

<p>Your students can practice using &quot;despite&quot;&nbsp;in our&nbsp;NEW <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1263" target="_blank">Climate Change lesson plan</a>. A full lesson plan&nbsp;on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1608" target="_blank">Complete Sentences</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1619" target="_blank">Adverb Clauses of Contrast</a> is available in our Grammar Practice&nbsp;section.</p>


How to Explain Despite Vs. Although

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<h1>Is it &ldquo;the president&rdquo; or &ldquo;the&nbsp;President&rdquo;?</h1>

<p>With the US elections coming up, the word &ldquo;president&rdquo; is on everyone&rsquo;s minds, and it is a topic that will be covered in many classrooms. But is it <em>president</em> or <em>President</em>? What about when we say <em>a president</em>, <em>the president</em>, or <em>President Obama</em>? Textbooks don&rsquo;t seem to cover these differences. Luckily, the style guides do! There are a few easy rules that apply to many such civil&nbsp;titles.</p>

<h1>Rule #1</h1>

<p>Use a capital when the title directly precedes the&nbsp;name.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>President Barack Obama</strong></li>
	<li><strong>Vice President Joe&nbsp;Biden</strong></li>
</ul>

<p>Note: The title &ldquo;vice president&rdquo; doesn&rsquo;t include a hyphen, according to <em>Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Collegiate Dictionary</em> and <em>The Chicago Manual of&nbsp;Style</em>.</p>

<h1>Rule #2</h1>

<p>Don&rsquo;t use a capital when the title doesn&rsquo;t include a person&rsquo;s&nbsp;name.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>The president</strong> of the United&nbsp;States</li>
	<li><strong>The vice president</strong> of the&nbsp;US</li>
</ul>

<p>Note: Exceptions occur when a political office chooses to capitalize a title in all positions, most likely for emphasis in promotional&nbsp;products.</p>

<h1>Confusion?</h1>

<p>Now, here&rsquo;s where I get confused. It&rsquo;s clear to me that <em><strong>a president</strong></em> shouldn&rsquo;t be capitalized, because &ldquo;a&rdquo; doesn&rsquo;t refer to one specific person, but when I write <em><strong>the president</strong></em>, I instinctively want to capitalize it. After all, with &ldquo;the,&rdquo; we&rsquo;re clearly referring to just one person! So, if you&rsquo;re like me, you&rsquo;ll have to resist the urge to capitalize after &ldquo;the,&rdquo;&nbsp;too.</p>

<h2>Some more examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Abraham Lincoln was <strong>a</strong> great&nbsp;<strong>president</strong>.</li>
	<li>Lincoln was <strong>the</strong> <strong>president</strong> from 1861 to&nbsp;1865.</li>
	<li><strong>President</strong> <strong>Lincoln</strong> is remembered for his work to end&nbsp;slavery.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Other Titles</h1>

<p>Don&rsquo;t forget that these rules apply to most other civil titles, too, no matter what political system your country&nbsp;has.</p>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>The prime minister of&nbsp;Canada</li>
	<li>Prime Minister Stephen&nbsp;Harper</li>
	<li>The mayor of&nbsp;Vancouver</li>
	<li>Mayor Gregor Robertson</li>
</ul>

<p>For more examples of <em>president/President</em>,&nbsp;check out ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/1969">beginner</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/1967">low-intermediate</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/1547">high-intermediate &ndash; advanced</a> lessons on Barack Obama. These lessons are also a great way to teach some of the vocabulary your students will need to be able to discuss the elections in class. ESL&nbsp;Library also has a section on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/84/lessons">American Presidents</a> for you to try, including a NEW lesson plan on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/84/lessons/1546">George&nbsp;W.&nbsp;Bush</a>.</p>

<p><em>Source: The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, section&nbsp;8.21.</em></p>


When Do We Capitalize "President"?

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<h1>So Much Controversy Over a Tiny Punctuation Mark!</h1>

<p>Also known as the series comma, the Oxford comma, and the Harvard comma, the serial comma has been cause for debate for many years. When I became the editor for ESL Library, I was thrilled to learn that their house style included the serial comma, because I prefer to use it myself. I&rsquo;ve worked for other clients who&rsquo;ve shunned its use, and it&rsquo;s been hard to remember to leave it out. Even the style guides can&rsquo;t seem to agree. <em>The Chicago Manual of Style </em>recommends its use, but the <em>AP Stylebook</em> does not. What do you do? Let&rsquo;s have a look at some of the reasons to love the serial comma, and some of the reasons to dump it.</p>

<h2>To Use</h2>

<p>The first reason that comes to mind is <strong><em>clarity</em></strong>. Sometimes a serial comma is necessary to make the meaning of the sentence clear. One famous example that made the rounds on the internet was the sentence &ldquo;We invited the strippers, JFK, and Stalin.&rdquo; In this case, the meaning is clear&mdash;both JFK and Stalin were invited, as well as two or more strippers. Good times! However, if you don&rsquo;t use the serial comma, as in &ldquo;We invited the strippers, JFK and Stalin&rdquo; you could assume that JFK and Stalin <em>were</em> the strippers. No thanks! Another reason for the serial comma is that its use reflects <strong><em>how we speak</em></strong>. In essence, commas are representations of pauses we make when we speak. To me, not using the serial comma means we shouldn&rsquo;t pause at that part of the sentence when we speak. For example, think of the following sentence: I like apples, oranges, and pears. Which sounds better:</p>

<ul>
	<li>
	<p>I like apples, oranges, and pears. = I-like-apples (pause) oranges (pause) and-pears.</p>
	</li>
	<li>I like apples, oranges and pears. = I-like-apples (pause) oranges-and-pears.</li>
</ul>

<p>To me, using the serial comma (and therefore pausing) sounds better, both in my head and out loud. Maybe I should just stop talking to myself so much! ;)</p>

<h2>Not to Use</h2>

<p>I think the best argument not to use the serial comma is <strong><em>length</em></strong>. Your sentence is one character shorter without it, and since the meaning is generally the same with or without it, why bother making the sentence longer? I also think that not using it seems to be getting more common. Because of the AP and CP style guides, we don&rsquo;t usually see the serial comma in newspapers or magazines. And with the advent of texting, making everything shorter is the popular choice! No matter what you decide to do, the important thing is to be consistent. Whether you have a strong opinion about it, or you were just taught to write a certain way, keep it consistent and you can&#39;t go wrong. So make a choice, stick to it(,) and have no regrets!</p>

<p>&mdash;Tanya</p>

In Defence of the Serial Comma

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<h3>English can be scary!</h3>

<p>Hyphens, apostrophes, differences between noun and verb forms&mdash;English vocabulary can be confusing for both L1 speakers and English learners!</p>

<p>At this time of the year, Halloween vocab will probably be a part of your classes, so I&rsquo;ve made a list of some confusing Halloween words to go over with your students. If you need ideas on how to present or review new vocab, check out my <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-ways-to-teach-new-vocabulary">4 Ways to Teach New Vocab</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-activities-for-reviewing-vocabulary">4 Vocab Review Activities</a> blog posts.</p>

<p>The idea for this blog post came when I was editing our <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/holidays-events/halloween">Halloween lessons</a><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/holidays-events/halloween"> </a>last week. &ldquo;Jack O&rsquo; Lantern&rdquo; was spelled using capital letters in the lessons, and I figured I&rsquo;d better check to make sure that was standard. Much to my surprise, not only did &ldquo;jack-o&rsquo;-lantern&rdquo; not use capital letters, but it also uses hyphens, according to both <em>Merriam-Webster</em>&nbsp;and the <em>Oxford Canadian</em> dictionaries.</p>

<p>Tricky, right? Now, you might be thinking, &ldquo;Who cares about hyphens?&rdquo; It&rsquo;s true that mistakes like these aren&rsquo;t the end of the world, since the meaning would still be clear in most cases, but why not teach your students the correct forms from the get-go? After all, it could be a little embarrassing if your students checked their dictionaries and pointed out your misspellings&mdash;best to be prepared!</p>

<p>Here are some of the trickier words I&rsquo;ve come across, spelled and punctuated according to <em>Merriam-Webster&nbsp;Collegiate Dictionary</em> (11th edition) and the<em> Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current English</em>:</p>

<h3>jack-o&rsquo;-lantern</h3>

<p>This word shouldn&rsquo;t use caps and should use hyphens. If you think that using an apostrophe followed by a hyphen looks very strange, you&rsquo;re not alone! It does looks strange&mdash;spooky, even!</p>

<h3>trick or treat (noun) / trick-or-treat (verb)</h3>

<p>According to <em>Merriam-Webster</em>, the noun form doesn&rsquo;t use hyphens, as in the following example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>&ldquo;Trick or treat!&rdquo; yelled the children at the door.</li>
</ul>

<p>The verb form uses hyphens, as in the following example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>The children trick-or-treated for three hours last night.</li>
</ul>

<h3>haunt</h3>

<p>No spelling change for this word, but you might want to point out that the noun and the verb have different meanings. The noun means a place where one likes to hang out/spend time, as the following example demonstrates:</p>

<ul>
	<li>The cafe on 2nd Street is one of my favourite haunts.</li>
</ul>

<p>The verb refers to a ghost or spirit that stays in a certain place, as in the following example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>The ghost of the murdered man haunts that old mansion up the street.</li>
</ul>

<p>The adjective form is &ldquo;haunted,&rdquo; and it has the same meaning as the verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>That haunted house scares me. Sometimes lights come on even though no one lives there.</li>
</ul>

<h3>candies/candy &amp;&nbsp;zombies/zombie</h3>

<p>The plural form of &ldquo;candies&rdquo; is spelled with a &ldquo;y&rdquo; in the singular form. This is very common in English, so your students might not understand why we can&rsquo;t say &ldquo;one zomby.&rdquo; Point out that the singular &ldquo;-ie&rdquo; ending in &quot;zombie&quot; is an exception.</p>

<h3>witch / which</h3>

<p>Students are used to seeing the word &ldquo;which&rdquo; in sentences such as &ldquo;Which one would you like?&rdquo; and &ldquo;That building, which is really old, is a landmark.&rdquo; Point out that the Halloween term for a sorceress is spelled &ldquo;witch.&rdquo; You can demonstrate the difference in the following example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I&rsquo;m going as a witch for Halloween this year. Which costume did you choose?</li>
</ul>

<h3>costume / custom</h3>

<p>I&rsquo;ve seen many students get these two words confused. Explain that the spelling, meaning, and pronunciation are all different for these two words. &ldquo;Costume&rdquo; is an outfit that people wear on Halloween to disguise themselves, as in the following example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>If I can&#39;t find&nbsp;a&nbsp;costume before the Halloween party on Saturday, I&#39;ll cut two eye holes&nbsp;in a white sheet and go as a ghost.</li>
</ul>

<p>&ldquo;Custom&rdquo; is a tradition or habitual action that people do, as in the following example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Removing your shoes before entering someone&rsquo;s house is a well-known Japanese custom.</li>
</ul>

<p>For more practice with Halloween words, and to access some ready-made Halloween lessons, check out <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/holidays-events/halloween">ESL Library&rsquo;s Halloween Collection</a>.</p>

Tricky Halloween Vocab to Teach Your Students

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<blockquote>&ldquo;Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.&rdquo;<br />
&mdash;Mason Cooley</blockquote>

<p>Teachers worldwide will introduce children to Halloween culture and traditions this year. Halloween is one of those holidays that children love to learn about even if it is not practiced in their countries because they get to dress up in costumes and eat candy. Even if you do not teach Halloween, the following activities are fun for children and help spark their creativity.</p>

<h2>A Few Wicked Web 2.0 Activities</h2>

<p>Below is a list of websites and apps and ideas on how to integrate them with your students.</p>

<h3>Skeleton Dance&nbsp;</h3>

<p>Your students upload their photos&nbsp;and their friends photos to star in this <a href="https://www.jibjab.com/view/template/skeleton_dance">Skeleton Dance</a> video. Your students will love doing this and posting on Facebook or emailing to others or their friends. Follow up this activity by doing any of these writing activities.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Have students use their imagination and write a story stating how and where they took this video.</li>
	<li>Divide your students into pairs or small groups and have them write a dialogue about the events leading to this video. They can write down the setting, character descriptions, and dialogue. You can <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FDTcjHxZGiBgDJ1pjfKGdSnQoPp7ToOkM2YYJHFp6Uo/edit">use this worksheet as a framework</a>.</li>
	<li>Divide your students into pairs or small groups and have them write a plan for a Halloween party they are throwing together. This will be the main entertainment. For an added bonus pick one of the ideas or a few to incorporate in a class/club/school Halloween party.</li>
	<li>Divide your students into small groups and have them create a play in which this would be one of the main scenes.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Halloween Jokes</h3>

<p>Jokes can be cultural, but they are a great way to study vocabulary and how words can mean something entirely different in various contexts. <a href="https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/halloween-jokes">Activity Village</a> has a list of free kid-friendly jokes and various ways to print them out and use them in class. Here are a few more ideas.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Divide students in pairs. Have them pick out 2 to 3 jokes they memorize from the list and retell in front of their peers.</li>
	<li>Print the jokes and cut the paper into strips with each joke listed and it&rsquo;s punchline on a different strip. Walk around and have students pull out a strip. They must go around the room and try to determine which punchline goes with what joke. Have them sit together when they think they find their match. After gather as a class and have each pair tell their joke to check if they actually found the right match.</li>
	<li>Have students pick out 2 to 3 jokes they memorize from the list. Then play the game mingle. Students are in pairs and are given 30 seconds to a minute to tell their jokes to their peers. You then blow the whistle and they must tell their joke to a different student.</li>
	<li>Divide students in pairs. Have students pick out 2 to 3 jokes they memorize from the list. Have them use the following free sites to have their characters retell the joke. They can use <a href="http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/">MakeBeliefs Comix</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="http://www.xtranormal.com/">Xtranormal</a>. If you want them to use their mobile devices, try the&nbsp;free dialogue apps,&nbsp;<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puppet-pals-pocket/id395844666?mt=8">PuppetPals</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://outfit7.com/apps/talking-news/">Talking Ben and Tom News Reporter</a>.</li>
	<li>Have students create their own Halloween jokes in response to these and share them with the class.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Wicked Stories</h3>

<p>Students often love to listen to and create their own spooky stories. It&rsquo;s a great way to learn English and be creative. For older students, have them create stories they will read to younger students or their children. Teenagers love reading stories to younger children and the younger children love it as well. These sites will help inspire students with their stories.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I love the Digital ELT Play site which is filled with great Halloween story games where students walkthrough the story and complete tasks. You can find a great free lesson plan provided for each game for various levels and ages. Here is a list of their <a href="http://www.digitalplay.info/blog/2012/10/05/top-ten-for-halloween/">top 10 Halloween lesson plans</a> that incorporate games.</li>
	<li>Use a site like <a href="http://theshadowlands.net/places/">Shadowlands</a> to discover haunted places in your area or other places. Have students choose one of the haunted places to research for a writing project. They can retell the story with audio and visuals using <a href="http://animoto.com/">Animoto</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="http://www.fotobabble.com/">Fotobabble</a>. Have them use a Google Map to tell the story and mark the locations by time and event. These are great tools to do that: <a href="http://www.meograph.com/">Meograph</a>, <a href="http://www.scribblemaps.com/">ScribbleMaps</a>, or <a href="http://www.tripline.net/">Tripline</a>.</li>
	<li>Many of the stories at <a href="http://themoonlitroad.com/">Moonlit Road</a> have audio and visuals to go along with them. You can create entire lesson plans based on any of these.</li>
	<li>Have students use these story prompts sites to create their own Halloween stories: <a href="http://www.theholidayzone.com/halloween/writing.html">Writing Prompts for Halloween</a>, or <a href="http://jlbenet.com/horrorstoryprompts.html">Spooky Story Prompts</a>.</li>
	<li>Have students create Halloween stories using <a href="http://storybird.com/">Storybird</a>.</li>
	<li>Create a class spook story on the free <a href="http://www.boomwriter.com/">BoomWriter site</a>.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Pumpkin Sites</h3>

<p>Even if you don&rsquo;t celebrate Halloween, your students will enjoy pumpkin carving. It was one of the favorite activities my students of all ages did in Germany. Here are a few online carving sites and games that teach words as well.</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://www.abcya.com/pumpkin_carving.htm">Carve a Pumpkin Online</a> for young kids</li>
	<li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/carve-pumpkin-from-parents/id394900607?mt=8">Carve a Pumpkin app</a>- With this great app from Parents magazine, kids create a jack-o-lantern that lights up after it is carved. Kids can add spooky stickers to their pumpkin. There are various pumpkins to choose from and backgrounds. Have the students e-mail the e-cards to friends of family members. A follow-up task includes having students get into pairs. Student A describes the pumpkin created. Student B must try to recreate the pumpkin by the verbal description. Make sure the students save the pumpkin to their photo library to compare. You can also have students try to carve their pumpkins in real life after the drawing.</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.starfall.com/n/holiday/halloween/play.htm?f">Pumpkin carving Starfall site</a> for small kids that also teaches them pronunciation</li>
</ul>

<h2>More Great Websites and Resources</h2>

<p>You can find more ideas in these posts:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Tons of <a href="http://preparednotscared.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Halloween?updated-max=2010-10-15T00:08:00-06:00&amp;max-results=20">Halloween printables, crafts, and games</a></li>
	<li>Tons of <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/Halloween-Party-Games">Halloween games</a> for kids to play in class or for a party</li>
</ul>


10+ Wicked Web 2.0 Activities for Halloween

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<h1>Use this easy method to get the conversation rolling!</h1>

<p>Teachers want their students to talk as much as possible, since conversation practice helps students improve their pronunciation and listening skills, and allows them to put the grammar and vocabulary they&rsquo;ve learned to use.</p>

<p>Speaking is a fundamental part of communication in another language. But sometimes, getting students to speak is a real challenge! Textbooks, filled with written work and drill-type activities, aren&rsquo;t always helpful.</p>

<p>So what can teachers do? Fear not! Remember that students usually <em>want</em> to talk. Their favorite types of activities are generally ones that involve communication and interaction. Providing students with fun speaking activities, therefore, will almost always be met with an enthusiastic response. Give my favorite speaking activity a try!</p>

<h2>Student-Generated Questions</h2>

<p>By having students write their own questions, you are getting them directly involved in the conversation before it even begins! They are also more likely to listen to each other&rsquo;s answers (something that is often a challenge) because they want to hear how others will respond to their questions. Usually, you will end up with funny, interesting questions that students are interested in discussing.</p>

<h3>General Method</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Cut up enough small squares or strips of blank paper so that each student gets five squares. To save trees, use the back of used paper!</li>
	<li>Pass out five squares to each student.</li>
	<li>Get students to write one question on each of the five squares. You can provide a topic, such as &ldquo;travel&rdquo; for lower levels, or &ldquo;controversial issues&rdquo; for higher levels. You could also choose whatever topic you&rsquo;ll be discussing in class that day/week. Sometimes I even give &ldquo;your choice&rdquo; of topics to the students, and I find that this ends up being the most fun&hellip;it allows them to ask silly or creative questions.</li>
	<li>Circulate and correct students&rsquo; vocab and grammar as they are writing out their questions. (This also allows you to check that nothing inappropriate is being asked.)</li>
</ul>

<h3>Variation 1</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Put the students into small groups of three or four. I&rsquo;ve found that small groups provides students with ample speaking time as well as with a good variety of opinions.</li>
	<li>You can set a time limit (such as 20 minutes) if you&rsquo;d like. For groups that finish quickly, you can give them some questions that another group has already used.</li>
	<li>You can follow up as a class after all the groups are finished. You could ask something like, &ldquo;What was the funniest or most interesting thing your group talked about?&rdquo;</li>
</ul>

<h3>Variation 2</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Do this activity as a whole class. That way, the students will get to hear all of their questions being asked and responded to, which is fun for them.</li>
	<li>You can ask the same question to more than one student, too. Keep the conversation going by asking if others agree or disagree with a student&rsquo;s response.</li>
	<li>Keep in mind that shy students have trouble speaking in front of the rest of their classmates. Solve this by keeping the atmosphere informal and allowing students&#39; answers to be short. Jump in with prompts or interjections to keep them talking, if need be. Remind students that this isn&rsquo;t a presentation, just natural conversation practice.</li>
	<li>Since this variation will take the most time, set a limit, for example 20 questions a day. You can then continue to use these students&rsquo; questions as a warm-up every day for a week or so, if you&rsquo;d like!</li>
	<li>I&#39;ve found that doing this activity as a class really allows classmates to bond with each other.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Variation 3</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Put the students into pairs. While this way won&rsquo;t provide them with many opinions, they will get in the most speaking time.</li>
	<li>You can follow up as a class after all the pairs are finished. You could ask something like, &ldquo;What was the funniest or most interesting thing you and your partner talked about?&rdquo;</li>
	<li>This variation works well in private or semi-private lessons, too.</li>
</ul>

<p>For more ways to get your students talking, check out our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons" target="_blank">Discussion Starters</a> section or the other interesting posts in the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/" target="_blank">ESL Library blog</a>!</p>

<p>Happy chatting, Tanya</p>


My Favorite Fun, Student-Generated Speaking Activity

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<blockquote>
<p>Help students figure out the correct subject&ndash;verb agreement for these confusing expressions!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>A few weeks ago, someone emailed us at <a href="https://ellii.com/">ESL&nbsp;Library</a> to ask if the grammar on our home page was correct. In the featured lesson about protests in the Middle East, this sentence caused some confusion: &ldquo;Over the past few years, there have been a growing number of both peaceful and violent protests.&rdquo; The person wanted to know if &ldquo;&hellip;there <strong>have</strong> been a growing number of&hellip;&rdquo; was correct. Shouldn&rsquo;t it be &ldquo;&hellip;there <strong>has</strong> been a growing number of&hellip;&rdquo;?</p>

<p>This is a question that commonly confuses our students! The problem is that the subject&ndash;verb agreement is different for the expressions &ldquo;a number of&rdquo; and &ldquo;the number of.&rdquo; Here&rsquo;s how I usually explain it to my&nbsp;students:</p>

<h2>1. &ldquo;A number of&rdquo; takes a plural&nbsp;verb</h2>

<p>Tell your students to think of it this way:<strong> a number of </strong>means <strong>many</strong>. Becaus &ldquo;many + plural noun&rdquo; takes a plural verb, you would say &ldquo;Many cars <strong>are</strong> on the freeway during rush hour.&rdquo; Likewise, you would say &ldquo;A number of cars <strong>are</strong> on the freeway during rush&nbsp;hour.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The important thing to remember is that this expressions is acting like a quantifier. So even though it involves a singular noun &ldquo;number,&rdquo; it is serving the same role in the sentence as a quantifier such as &ldquo;many,&rdquo; &ldquo;a lot of,&rdquo; &ldquo;lots of,&rdquo; &ldquo;hundreds of,&rdquo; etc. You would say &ldquo;A number of people have started the test&rdquo; just like you would say &ldquo;A lot of people have started the&nbsp;test.&rdquo;</p>

<h2>2. &ldquo;The number of&rdquo; takes a singular&nbsp;verb</h2>

<p>Here&rsquo;s where it gets even more confusing. In English, &ldquo;the number of&rdquo; doesn&rsquo;t mean &ldquo;many.&rdquo; Tell your students to think of it as <strong>one</strong> <strong>number</strong>. So even though that number might be large, the purpose of this expression is to compare this one number/amount with another number/amount. For example, we would say &ldquo;The number of crimes in New York <strong>has</strong> increased this year.&rdquo; There might be 56 more crimes committed this year compared to last year. Another example is &ldquo;The number of people who are writing the test today <strong>is</strong> larger than yesterday.&rdquo; There might be 20 more people writing the test&nbsp;today.</p>

<p>For more practice, see if your students can pick out these expressions on the internet, in newspapers, or in magazines. Also, this is a very common grammar question in Part&nbsp;5 of the TOEIC test, so make sure that any students you have who are preparing to write this test memorize the correct subject-verb agreement for these&nbsp;expressions.</p>

<p>I hope that clears things up for you and your students! I hope that the number of questions they have about these expressions <strong>is</strong> now&nbsp;zero.&nbsp;:)</p>

<p>Tanya</p>

<h2>Source</h2>

<p>&ldquo;The number of x&rdquo; takes a singular verb; &ldquo;a number of x,&rdquo; a plural verb.&rdquo; (Einsohn, A., The Copyeditor&rsquo;s Handbook, p.&nbsp;344)</p>

<h2>Examples in Use</h2>

<ul>
	<li>
	<p>&ldquo;Even in regular prose, <strong>a number of</strong> expressions <strong>are</strong> almost always abbreviated and may be used without first spelling them out.&rdquo; (The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th&nbsp;ed., p.&nbsp;488)</p>
	</li>
	<li>&ldquo;The article that precedes the mass noun signals whether the mass noun or <strong>the number of</strong> the noun in the prepositional phrase <strong>controls</strong> the number of the verb.&rdquo; (The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th&nbsp;ed., p.&nbsp;&nbsp;205)</li>
</ul>


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